SURGING CAPE CENTRAL WINS TWO IN SHOWCASE

Go ahead E.T., keep them.

These Tigers play better anyway.

Cape Girardeau Central High's team performance Saturday was so superior to its prior play that an imaginative follower might believe that the whole team had been abducted by aliens and was replaced with the spirits from the Field of Dreams.

Not so, said Cape Central coach Steve Williams, who first watched his team claim a 5-1 win over Heath, Ky. in the second day of the Tiger Showcase, then witnessed the Tigers edge previously-unbeaten Potosi 3-1. Both games were at Capaha Field.

"I'm tickled right now," Williams said. "We have to make the plays that we have to make, just like any ballclub. But we weren't doing that. We weren't taking advantage of other teams' mistakes and we were giving other teams too many chances."

The inexperienced Tigers (7-8) have now won three consecutive games.

Both Tiger starters -- Justin Cook in the first game and Travis Klipfel in the second -- pitched gems.

Each hurler gave up one run in the first and shut down their foes thereafter.

Cook, keeping his hitters off-balance with prime location and a variety of speeds, held Heath to just one hit after the first and four for the game. Two of the three hits against him in the first didn't leave the infield. He walked one and fanned six.

"I just try to keep the ball low and make them hit ground balls," Cook said. "They couldn't hit my curve ball very well."

Klipfel's outing was equally impressive, especially considering Potosi entered the game with a 9-0 record.

Klipfel gave up five hits, walked one and hit a batter while striking out three.

"I hit my spots and I was getting ahead of batters," Klipfel said. "That's all I can do. They hit it and our defense took care of it. We're playing real well together right now."

In the first game, Central scored two runs in the third, one in the fourth and two in the sixth.

Chris Barrows provided what was essentially the game-winning hit, a two-out, two-run single in the third.

Chad Jones doubled and scored a run in the fourth. In the sixth, he reached on an error, stole second and third, then scored on a wild pitch.

Josh McIntosh's RBI triple chased home Central's final run. McIntosh went 2-for-3 in the second game and 1-for-2 with two walks in the first.

Against Potosi, Central plated two in the third and one in the sixth. Zach Fidler singled home a run and McIntosh's double chased home another. Mark Fisher tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with a pinch-hit single up the middle.

Perhaps the biggest improvement over recent games, was the Tigers' defense. Central committed one error in the first game and none in the second. In its win over North County on Friday night, the Tigers had five miscues.